I must be doing something wrong.....

[foszoe]

Most people get into debt issues by looking at other people's stuff.

Don't look! RESIST!

 

[Kutnupe14]

I am familiar. Some look remarkably like antebellum plantations, but without the Spanish moss.

There's a house on Towne Rd, one the west side of the road, south of 131st, north of 116th... the red brick one, that's replica of George Washington's home. The bricks were ALL handmade. Guy is a retired Wall Street broker.

 

[natdscott]

You've gotten some really good advice in this thread so far, and most of it was said in the first page.

I work in this stuff all day long at least 5 days a week.

What I see of personal financial decision making spans the entire width of the spectrum from overly conservative to liberal-to-a-fault. In my experience, neither extreme is the place to regardless of what anybody else is doing with their lives. At the end of the day, you and your wife need to do what is right for your son.

You cannot take a really nice house with you, you can't take a new Meep, and you can't even take the $manythousands that you could put in a savings account for your kid.

But the legacy you leave in your child by having spent on HIM in productive ways, and saved for HIS future...well, that COUNTS. Keep your eyes on the prize.


-Nate

 

[lovemachine]

Lol, there are plenty of people you don't know that live in big house that don't have furniture in them. I've never seen more cases of "keeping up with Jones's" in my life.

I have furniture in all the rooms in my 2-bedroom house

 

[Hoosier Carry]

Lately, I have come to the realization that I must be doing something wrong. My wife and I have been "attempting" the Dave Ramsey thing. Been able to clear up some debt, and follow a "loose" budget. It's not perfect, but we've been able to find cash which goes into savings.

My 8 month old son has started daycare full time. So that's more money going out. Plus, we've been trying to make a double payment on the wife's car payment. Trying to get that sucker paid off.
On my vehicle, 2005 Jeep Wrangler, I've been doing more maintenance on it. I just hit 105,000 miles, and I have recently replaced the rear main seal. I'm getting ready to do the axle seal and high pinion seal next. And over the weekend, I had to replace the spark plugs, and clean the throttle body. Just trying to keep that thing running good because it has to keep going.

I really [STRIKE]don't want[/STRIKE] can't afford another car payment.

Plus, my wife and I have found out that my son has more stuff than we do. So our 2 bedroom house has become quite full
We've started looking online for homes for sale. Unfortunately, they are all priced higher than we want to pay.

Anyway, we've been trying to become smarter with our money.

I look around, and I see people with VERY nice and very BIG homes. And most are driving brand new vehicles. On the interstate, I see brand new 4-door Jeep Wranglers. Brand new Silverados. Brand new F150's. Brand new RAM's.

How are people affording all this? High mortgage payments. At least 2 car payments on brand new vehicles. I'm amazed at what I'm seeing.

Are people actually able to afford to do all this? Or are they living paycheck to paycheck?

I want to know, because I have to be doing it all wrong.

I feel the same way about guns here. I have nothing compared to a lot of people here and how do they afford all them guns!

 

[actaeon277]

I feel the same way about guns here. I have nothing compared to a lot of people here and how do they afford all them guns!

work so much that I don't have time to shoot them

 

[UTL]

I do much better when I pay attention to my life and what makes me happy. You never know what someone else is doing not not doing to have what they have.

 

[Hoosierkav]

I sold my WRX (that I was making payments on) and paid cash for a minivan.

We did nothing but get rid of debt. No extra spending. No credit cards. No waste.

Dumped another $10+k in debt. Dumped the cable/satellite. Dumped the expensive cell phone plans and the house phone. Kept the DSL. Heck, just a few months ago dumped my Vista laptop.

Our only loan is our mortgage now, and I'd love to sell, simply to capitalize on the good market, and build or find a dirt cheap house (with 5+ acres, of course). But, until it's time to do that, we will continue to live off of a single income and be smart.

As Dave says, people are in debt only because they choose to be. When you want to be out of debt, you'll make the sacrifices. Keep your eye on the prize and continue to run the race. You'll get there.

 

[jgressley2003]

People max themselves out and then when their new vehicle needs tires they trade it off because it's easier to pay an extra $50 a month on a loan than dish out $800 on tires. We have a guy at work who's been buying things like crazy in the last year (skid loader, trailer, brand new camper) and now he's in the market for a newer truck. We are all puzzled where he's getting the money especially since he filed bankruptcy 7-8 years ago.

 

[lovemachine]

New tires = emergency fund.

 

[eldirector]

New tires = emergency fund.

Nah. New tires are planned maintenance.

If one can't afford to maintain a vehicle, one can't afford that vehicle.

I've known folks that splurged on REALLY nice vehicles, but couldn't afford to keep them. One bought a fancy sports car. Tires were $500= EACH, and he liked smokey burnouts. Oil changes were $100+. It finally needed a clutch, and that was well over a grand.

So very few folks consider the Total Cost of Ownership. They look at payments, and hope for the best. Then they hit the "emergency fund" (or credit cards) for every little expense they didn't plan for.

Emergency fund is when you blow a practically new tire (you have road hazard, right?) and ruin the rim.

 

[foszoe]

New tires = emergency fund.

Not to use myself as an example, but I run two budgets.

Paycheck to Paycheck: Groceries, Household goods, Wife's spending money, my spending money, couple spending money, gas, pet food, beer/alcohol, utilities, mortgage, charity

Annual Budget which takes some time to set up: how i did it.

Take insurance, registration, vacation, housing repairs/maintenance, hobbies, season tickets, Indy 500 tix, average cost of car repairs/tires, life insurance premiums, health care bills, dental, eye glasses, any subscriptions etc add all of them up and divide by # of paychecks in a year.

Get a high yield online savings fund (GS Bank is at 1.2%) and every paycheck deposit that set amount. After a year, that account pays for most of what most people call "emergencies. After tweaking it a year or two. Those annual or every 6 month bills that used to sting just go away. You may even move to a CD ladder with this money over time for a portion of it. GS Bank has them at 1.4. Fidelity Investments can do better than that.

Anyway that is probably more confusing than helpful but hopefully it makes some sense.

 

[lovemachine]

Nah. New tires are planned maintenance.

If one can't afford to maintain a vehicle, one can't afford that vehicle.

I've known folks that splurged on REALLY nice vehicles, but couldn't afford to keep them. One bought a fancy sports car. Tires were $500= EACH, and he liked smokey burnouts. Oil changes were $100+. It finally needed a clutch, and that was well over a grand.

So very few folks consider the Total Cost of Ownership. They look at payments, and hope for the best. Then they hit the "emergency fund" (or credit cards) for every little expense they didn't plan for.

Emergency fund is when you blow a practically new tire (you have road hazard, right?) and ruin the rim.

Hmm. I'm not sure if I do have road hazard.

 

[Nazgul]

One other aspect is time. I retired last year, wife has another 3 years to go, by choice. Over time your situation improves.

We did well, had 3 kids, then wife got cancer and died in 2007. At her death there was not much insurance in force, enough for a few bills. I put 2 through college on a mechanics salary. Though about selling the house because it was just me but didn't. We had been paying ahead on the mortgage. Turned off the TV service, turned off the A/C and heat during day, really cut back on diet (Lost weight!!). No alcohol or eating out.

Remarried after 3 years and it got much easier. Have a retirement account that meets the bills and a little extra. My expectations have been changed through all this.

Hang in, it gets better.

Don

Stick too it, look to your family not others.

 

[bwframe]

This seems appropriate for this thread...

NSFW...

[video=youtube;tNV16tz1NK0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNV16tz1NK0[/video]

 

[lovemachine]

This seems appropriate for this thread...

NSFW...

[video=youtube;tNV16tz1NK0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNV16tz1NK0[/video]

That guy has some good songs.

 

[Liberty1916]

Stick with it. Debt free is the way to go. We started the Ramsey plan almost two years ago and are debt free except for the house, which will be paid off in about 3 years. We've had home repairs we had to do recently and it's nice just to cut a check and be done with it. Debt free is stress free, at least money stress that is.

 

[dprimm]

I love threads like this. We work hard to save and live life. Only debts are house, her car (almost done) and what remains of my student loan which is also almost done. Several surprise bills this year hurt but we had the $ in savings to handle them. Now rebuilding that fund to where it was.

I would love more guns but my allowance has been depleted with training and racing. So nothing there.

Whenever i I get the wants, I think how many live paycheck to paycheck. I focus on my family and know the time with my 3 year old is precious. I am blessed with o have a wife that supports my exercise addiction And keeps me grounded.

 

[flightsimmer]

I am where some of you want to be.
Yes, you heard right.
My home is paid for, my cars are paid for, I have plenty of guns and ammo, I have four good sources of income and I live very conservatively.
BUT! I'm still having a hard time keeping up with expenses.
The value of the dollar is dropping rapidly, taxes are going up because of it along with the cost of food, clothing, repairs and replacements (new furnace).
I really don't know how you guys can survive with a mortgage, car loans, schooing and everything else that you have to contend with.
Best of luck to you.

 

[A 7.62 Exodus]

LM, being financially responsible sucks, but you'll thank yourself down the road. Believe me. It sounds to me like your on the right track with paying off the wife's car. I don't think people realize how nice having a paid off car is until it actually happens.

Speaking from experience here. I recommend you start small on your debt. Pay off the credit cards, pay for a doctors visit, get that small stuff knocked out first. Depending on your financial situation, that may clear up quite a bit of money. From there, move that extra money into savings. If it hasn't been said already, being debt free does you no good if you don't have any savings or an emergency fund. All that hard work can go down the drain in an instance over something stupid.